By Bill Stone , Doings Newspaper -
Sophomore Laura Williams epitomized Lyons Township's resiliency Tuesday.
Even after several mistakes and the area-ranked Lions facing a 20-18 deficit in the third set against area-ranked Hinsdale Central, Williams went to the serving line and remained aggressive.
"We were down by so much I was out here kind of (thinking), 'We've got to really pick it up,' " Williams said. "(LT assistant coach George Ushela) tells me when I can jump serve and when I can't. He was really like, 'Just go with what you feel,' and I was just feeling good tonight."
Williams ran off seven straight points and the Lions came away with an electrifying 20-25, 25-23, 25-17 victory over area-ranked Hinsdale Central in the showdown for the West Suburban Conference Silver Division championship on Senior Night in La Grange.
It's the first Silver title for LT (30-2, 6-0 in Silver) since 2004.
Leading the Lions were Jocelynn Birks (16 kills), Alexis Viliunas (21 assists, 12 kills, 15 digs), Williams (7 kills, 7 digs), Jamie Lundstrom (17 digs), Erin Juley (9 assists) and Megan Miller (5 digs). Viliunas, a sophomore setter, made a verbal commitment Tuesday to play at the University of Illinois after Birks, a junior outside hitter, committed to the Illini last week.
Williams' match-ending serving run featured three aces, including the final two points, and kills from Birks and senior Tiffany Vazquez. Birks had 10 kills with just one error in the third set and three kills during the game-ending rally.
"In club volleyball, my coach (Melissa Keck) talks to me about being mentally tough and blocking out other bad things that happen. You have to just focus on what's coming next. That's was I was trying to do," Williams said.
"Everybody pitched in. if you want to have a serve that keeps going, you have to have everybody else on their game, too. I still can't believe it."
Williams also served six straight points to put LT ahead 17-16 in the second set. Hinsdale Central (25-4, 5-1) later led 23-21, but the Lions ran off four straight points with two dump kills by Viliunas, a cross-court kill by Williams and an ace from senior Katie Bazzoni, who served the final three points.
Bill Stone, Doings Newspaper